Hey all. I'm trying to solve this question, but don't really understand how to do it:
If (x^4)^5 = x^a for all values of 'x', what is the value of 'a'?
Any help is much appreciated, thanks!
3 answers
By the way, I've gotten to x^20 = x^a, but don't know what to do from here.
suppose I said
x*20 = x*a
would you not say a=20?
Same here. Two powers of x are the same if the exponents are the same.
Or, if you've ventured into logs, then you have
20 logx = a logx
divide by logx and you have
20 = a
This only fails if x=1, since then logx = 0, and you cannot divide by 0. Plus, since 1^a = 1 for any value of a, then 1^20 = 1^a does not mean that a=20.
x*20 = x*a
would you not say a=20?
Same here. Two powers of x are the same if the exponents are the same.
Or, if you've ventured into logs, then you have
20 logx = a logx
divide by logx and you have
20 = a
This only fails if x=1, since then logx = 0, and you cannot divide by 0. Plus, since 1^a = 1 for any value of a, then 1^20 = 1^a does not mean that a=20.
Thank you for the explanation Steve! I understand why I was confused and get the problem now. Again, thanks!
0 answers